Rik Loveridge- Instrumentals Progressive Voyages Review PV090
Rik Loveridge -Instrumentals Progressive Voyages Review PV090
This is Rik's third solo album after his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, which he has come to accept. Whilst that diagnosis was certainly life changing, calling for a new approach to living and requiring some lifestyle changes, it never dimmed the creative flair that had been so evident in his work with The Kentish Spires.
So even though Rik felt unable to continue with the Kentish Spires it meant that this afforded him the opportunity to work on his own compositions, with the result being that he was able to release these albums on Bandcamp with him generously giving all the proceeds to a Parkinson’s charity. This resulted in the Generations and Prog Gnosis Single Helix albums of 2022 and 2024 respectively, This new latest album Instrumentals was released as a download only in the August of 2025 and consists of 11 tracks of varying length styles and tones, ranging from delicate almost classical in nature pieces like Road Dreamer (which is a musical homage to Elliot Bristow) a filmmaker who spent 20 years in America after being assaulted in New York he had to stay for the trial of his assistant and his 2 weeks became a 20 year sojourn.
This is also referred to again in the piece West Coast Journeyman which musically refers to his 20 years wanderings filming around America. Here Nick Fletcher plays some excellent Pat Metheny style guitar lines, most eloquently and lyrically,. A song without words, as those familiar with Pat Metheny will no doubt appreciate.
However I am getting ahead of myself as the album commences with the short Far Horizon track, which features Chris Egan who was with Rik during his Kentish Spires days. The track is very jazzy in style and is a reworking of a track that originally appeared on the Prog Gnosis album as Trilogy 3 ( The Death Of Hengist).
In fact several of these tracks appeared on those earlier albums in a slightly different form, although others are new to this release. For Doug is a piece written for Rik’s brother Doug who is a close friend of David Jackson of VDGG (Van Der Graff Generator) who appears on this track on Saxophone.
For Meg and John is a piece written for friends who were grieving the loss of a loved one who then received an unwelcome diagnosis themselves, this is a gentle almost wistful, piece with great piano from Chris Northam and Tim Bannerman provides the voice for this piece.
Generations is a little different and unusual in that it features Rik’s niece Willow who graces the track with her hearty cry,. This was at a time when Rik was facing some invasive medical procedures and was feeling decidedly mortal, so he wrote this piece based on a poem by his friend Hamish Pritchard that reflects on the circle of life and the passing of generations. It is a rather gentle pastoral sounding track with great synth, the ending is very positive with fine textures and sounds.
Tully Remembered is a piece written to celebrate the life of Colin Tully who was the pianist in the Nadhua quartet. Colin was the man who wrote the music for the Film Gregory’s Girl, the saxophone is played by Chris Egan most wonderfully.
Two Become One is a piece written for a friend's wedding, in it there are some suitably evocative bells and a wedding march. The track documents their lives together in sound and uses textures for evoking feelings. It is another gentle yet compelling piece that delivers its intentions extremely well. The ending has a joyous happy ever after tone and organ flourishes complete another great track.
Another track that really will appeal to many is the blistering Dark Matter which features some rather fiery guitar from Nick Fletcher. The John Hackett Band played with the Kentish Spires several years ago and Rik asked Nick to play on a session for him which Nick consented to do, the results being heard on the earlier albums. This particular track allows Nick a solid platform off which he can let fly with some very fusionish guitar lines.
All in all this instrumental album captures and evokes a variety of moods and offers a well-balanced, conceived, performed and delivered musical palette, which whilst not appealling to everyone it certainly has some really great moments and performances.
Highly recommend here. Info here: www.rikloveridge.bandcamp.com
Author John Wenlock-Smith